Global insight

Hair raising cocaine haul at Johannesburg cargo

JOHANNESBURG police have seized 143 kilos of cocaine disguised as shampoo at the South African city’s international airport cargo terminal.

The haul, which has a street value of around US$3.6million, is said to be one of South Africa’s largest ever port-of-entry drug busts.

The illicit drugs were discovered in hair product bottles. They were found during a routine check by anti-drugs personnel.

“Members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) anti-smuggling unit based at the cargo section found the drugs in 147 hair product bottles,” says a SAPS statement according to local media reports.

The air cargo shipments, which arrived from Brazil and were earmarked for onwards transhipment to Cotonou, Benin, in west Africa, were immediately despatched to the SAPS forensic laboratory in Pretoria.

Police say the discovery of the drugs haul illustrates that the major ports of entry in South Africa are being policed by committed officials.

“We take comfort in the knowledge that this huge stash did not find its way into any community in the country, where lives could have been ruined,” says a statement.